Hong Kong party hub Lan Kwai Fong primed for a comeback after months of coronavirus-related closures, LKF Group CEO says

‘I don’t think nightlife in Hong Kong is over or anything, because Hong Kong is a place where people work hard and then they play hard,’ says Jonathan Zeman

There are six new nightclubs opening in the area this year, though rents are down 20 to 30 per cent from 2018 levels, he adds

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Jonathan Zeman, CEO of Lan Kwai Fong Group, says he believes the area is poised for a revival. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 9:30pm, 14 Jun 2021Updated: 10:36pm, 14 Jun 2021

Just weeks after the end of a five-month, government-imposed shutdown for local bars and nightclubs, life is returning to the once deserted streets of Hong Kong’s famed Lan Kwai Fong party district.

The Central nightlife hub, just minutes from Hong Kong’s financial district, used to be routinely packed with white-collar workers cutting loose after a long week, and tourists and exchange students carousing until dawn, until the coronavirus pandemic put an end to the fun.

But with case counts down and vaccination numbers climbing, albeit slowly, Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) Group CEO Jonathan Zeman – the son of Allan Zeman, the business mogul behind the nightlife district – said he thought the area was on track for a revival.

“I don’t think nightlife in Hong Kong is over or anything, because Hong Kong is a place where people work hard and then they play hard,” Zeman said in a recent interview with the Post.

In better times, crowds thronged Lan Kwai Fong to party until dawn. Photo: Sam Tsang

Indeed, the six new nightclubs that opened between late 2020 and first half of 2021 appear to attest to Zeman’s optimism that the party is not over for Lan Kwai Fong.

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